Hotel rules in Australia from way back

@JudyEv (381908)
Rockingham, Australia
February 22, 2024 9:42pm CST
I don’t have anything special to write about today but came across these facts on a news site about Australian hotels. Do any of you know of Sigrid Thornton? She is an Australian actress but I don’t know how well-known she is outside of Australia, Anyway, back in 1965, when women were banned from drinking in public bars, her mother and a friend chained themselves to the foot rail of Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel in protest. Women were expected to drink in the lounge bars. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Temperance movement was strong. In 1916, with the country fighting in World War I, most states ordered bars to close at 6pm. This led to what was called the ‘six o’clock swill’ with office workers engaging in very fast, very heavy drinking from five o’clock knockoff till six pm. One of the more gross results of this law was that men would relieve themselves in the bar so they wouldn’t lose their place. Despite women being banned from public bars, many hotels were licensed and run by women. Hotels were required to provide room and board which was seen as a woman’s domain. It was also considered more likely that women would retain a more civilised drinking culture. The photo is of one of our country hotels.
22 people like this
21 responses
@Juliaacv (56227)
• Canada
23 Feb 24
This is very interesting. I wonder, since many of us no longer leave home to work, if the after work rush for a drink will all but disappear and take its place in another form. Many of our downtown watering holes and lunch hot spots have closed as a result of people working from home.
5 people like this
@Fleura (34954)
• United Kingdom
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv At first we all laughed about it, but now, people are starting to think 'Hang on, this actually isn't funny any more'.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Feb 24
There might be as much drinking but you don't have to cram it into an hour so hopefully not so many get as drunk as they once did. And getting together with friends would be quite an iimportant part of going to a pub.
3 people like this
@FourWalls (86615)
• United States
23 Feb 24
The interesting thing is that, in the “old west” in America, women who ran “boarding houses” with a “saloon” were usually thought of as “keepers of a disorderly house” or operators of a brothel. “Woman’s domain,” indeed!
4 people like this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Feb 24
I've recently read the autobiography's of women who grew up in the outback and both mothers ran hotels but they kept a very orderly establishment.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
24 Feb 24
Lovely picture. Often women have been subjected to double standards.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
We are discriminated against in so many ways. Women have to work twice as hard to get the top jobs, etc, etc. But at least things are a bit better than they were for our mothers.
1 person likes this
@jstory07 (148731)
• Roseburg, Oregon
23 Feb 24
Nice thanks for all of the information.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Feb 24
You're welcome.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502251)
• Italy
23 Feb 24
I love this hotel. I cannot believe that in your country women were still discriminated in the early 1900. Women in Europe could drink in public, in bars, hotels or no matter where they would have loved to have a drink.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502251)
• Italy
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv 90% of the countries in the world still have laws that discriminate women.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
Some of these laws were still in existence not all that long ago.
1 person likes this
@noni1959 (13035)
• United States
23 Feb 24
I enjoy your stories. Makes me want to visit Australia some day. Such a beautiful hotel.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Feb 24
Thanks. I hope you're able to get here one day. But come to the west - 'cause west is best. And you can visit (and stay) with us.
2 people like this
@noni1959 (13035)
• United States
1 Mar 24
@JudyEv That would be amazing. I hope some day. It will be a bit tricky getting used to the time change.
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
23 Feb 24
Interesting architecture... are those drain pipes from the balcony?
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv Not with that bend, I don't think.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
They look like it. Maybe they are helping support the structure too.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
@BarBaraPrz That crossed my mind too. We've have to take another trip out there and check it out more closely.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91299)
• United States
23 Feb 24
This behavior you have described is wanton debauchery. Bars and filthy drunks are despised by civilized people. Says I.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Feb 24
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
Says I too. So I guess that means I'm civilised - like you!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
25 Feb 24
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34954)
• United Kingdom
23 Feb 24
It was the same here. Pubs generally had a bar, and they were legally allowed to refuse to serve women until 1982. They also generally had a lounge bar, more comfortable and civilised, where women could go. It seems weird nowadays doesn't it?
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34954)
• United Kingdom
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv I remember the first time I went to a pub, I was 16. It felt very weird.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
@Fleura I still don't like walking into a pub. I always feel very conspicuous.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
Our lounge bars were always more tastefully furnished too. 1982 wasn't really all that long ago. Certainly there have been massive changes.
1 person likes this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
23 Feb 24
Australia has an interesting drinking history. The hotel is beautiful.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
There are some really lovely country hotels. Many are now under-utilised and going to ruin.
1 person likes this
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv That's so sad they're going to ruin.
1 person likes this
@Ronrybs (21503)
• London, England
23 Feb 24
Know the name Sigrid Thornton, but couldn't have told you anything she was in
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
She's been in a lot of Australian films and TV series. The Man from Snowy River might be one of her better known and Sea Change was a very funny sitcom in its day.
1 person likes this
@Ronrybs (21503)
• London, England
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv think it must have been Snowy River
1 person likes this
26 Feb 24
this is interesting. In India women are allowed to drink in hotels
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Feb 24
I was talking about laws from quite some time ago. Women can drink in hotels here now and in any part of the hotel.
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
23 Feb 24
Ugh. I can't imagine cramming all of your drinking into one hour! Have a great weekend.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
No wonder there were lots of fights outside of pubs once they shut.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
24 Feb 24
@JudyEv That's for sure.
1 person likes this
@dgobucks226 (37621)
2 Mar 24
Interesting history. That's a really neat Country hotel. Much better than our Motel 6's. Now that must have been some "Happy Hour." And it was exactly an hour too. Was it ever considered appropriate for women to eventually drink in a public bar?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Mar 24
The laws have changed now and women can now drink in public bars without restriction.
1 person likes this
@dgobucks226 (37621)
4 Mar 24
@JudyEv progress
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (208801)
• United States
23 Feb 24
Very colorful history there!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
I like reading about days gone by and the mores and standards that abounded.
@wolfgirl569 (135643)
• Marion, Ohio
23 Feb 24
That is a beautiful hotel. There are many funny laws everywhere.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
I know America has some very odd laws too.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (97957)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
23 Feb 24
That is a beautiful hotel, That is interesting and more power to women, I am glad things have changed,
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
We have a lot to thank our female ancestors for.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (44560)
• United States
23 Feb 24
Very interesting!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
Thankfully things have changed a bit but women aren't quite equal yet.
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Feb 24
That's a very pretty hotel in your picture. Times certainly have changed over the years especially when and where women can drink.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Feb 24
Women still have a way to go but things are a bit more equal than they once were.
@sarik1 (7815)
25 Feb 24
It is interesting .
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381908)
• Rockingham, Australia
26 Feb 24
Thanks. I'm glad you found it interesting. Times have changed a lot since then.
1 person likes this